292 STEEPLECHASING 



the top, and having a wide ditch on the landing side, 

 made a mistake at a much smaller obstacle, and by 

 some means a foreleg became entangled in the reins, 

 compelling Howard to dismount. Clasher came down 

 heavily, Saracen twice refused the fence out of the 

 second lane, and No Wonder, who had made up 

 his lost ground, was ridden through a gateway in- 

 stead of over the fence, an error in judgment on the 

 part of the rider, which led to No Wonder being 

 disqualified, the stakes, as already mentioned, going 

 to Baronet, who came in second. The time taken 

 by the winner in covering the two miles is given 

 as seven minutes. This appears to have been a 

 good sporting steeplechase, as before the start took 

 place those present on the ground contributed a sum 

 of money sufficient to defray the cost of mending 

 the fences, " for although not the slightest objection 

 was offered by the farmers, yet it was considered 

 nothing more than just and equitable that those who 

 rode down the fences for their own amusement should 

 be at the expense of putting them up again for the 

 farmers' convenience" — a sportsman -like sentiment 

 which might with advantage be borne in mind by the 

 hunting man of to-day. 



NORFOLK, 1835 



About the time that the St. Albans steeplechases 

 were organised by Coleman, the taste for these cross- 

 country events had extended into Norfolk. A match 

 which took place in 183 1, for ^50, between Messrs. 

 Munro and Carr, both riding their own hunters, was the 

 first event of which there is any record ; another match 

 for a small stake soon followed, and then in 1833 



